Tag Archives: international relations

Central Asian leaders head to Beijing

SEPT. 1/3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Highlighting just how important China has become to Central Asia, four out of five of the region’s leaders travelled to Beijing to watch a military parade designed to mark the 70th anniversary of China’s victory over Japan in World War II.

Trips to Beijing have become a regular part of the diplomatic land- scape for the presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. China now regards the region almost as its personal backyard, seemingly striking bilateral deals and agreements through the Shanghai Cooperation OrganisatPion (SCO) at will.

And this week appears to have been no different. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev flew to Beijing a few days early to sign off on a handful of deals. On his website, akorda.kz, Mr Nazarbayev said that the deals, spanning a range of sectors, had been worth $23b.

“We have actively cooperated with China for more than 20 years, mainly in the energy sector and in extracting other raw materials,” he said.

“Yesterday during our constructive talks with President Xi Jinping we agreed to create 45 joint facilities, and agreements were signed on 25 of them worth a total of $23b.”

The details of these deals were vague but they covered a range of sectors from tourism to hydropower.

Mr Nazarbayev also congratulated Chinese President Xi on winning the 2022 Winter Olympic Games for Beijing in July ahead of Almaty.

Following on a few days behind him were the presidents of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Only Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, Turkmenistan’s president, was missing. Also present were other leaders from neighbouring countries including Russia’s Vladimir Putin and South Korea’s Park Geun-hye.

With an economic downturn linked to Russia and a collapse in the price of oil, China has become an even more important driver of economic development in Central Asia and the SouthCaucasus.

At the end of last month, Kyrgyzstan officially opened a new power line funded by China that will improve electricity transit from the south of the country, where its hydro- power stations are sited, to the north and when Uzbekistan’s president Islam Karimov flew into Beijing its official media said bilateral trade had tripled in six years to around $5b.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)

NATO opens training base in Georgia

AUG. 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO Secretary-General and Georgian Prime Minister Irakly Garibashvili opened a NATO training base outside Tbilisi, a move that Russia has said it would interpret as antagonistic. Georgia wants to join NATO but, although relations have become closer, NATO has rebuffed its membership so far.

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(News report from Issue No. 245, published on Aug. 28 2015)

Turkmen leader travels to Kabul

AUG. 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen leader Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov travelled to Kabul to meet with Afghan president Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, an important signifier that he wants to play a greater role in improving his neighbour’s stability. Turkmenistan has developed a handful of high profile projects with Afghanistan, including the TAPI pipeline that will pump gas to India.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 245, published on Aug. 28 2015)

Kazakhstan to host nuclear fuel bank

AUG. 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) signed a deal with the Kazakh government to host the first internationally-controlled bank of low-enriched uranium, an agreement that will boost Kazakhstan’s global stature. The idea is that countries can ask to tap into the supply for fuel for their power stations and prevent any unilateral nuclear build up.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 245, published on Aug. 28 2015)

UN members criticise Azerbaijan

AUG. 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Six members of the UN’s Human Rights Council said that a trial that sentenced human rights defenders Leyla and Arif Yunus to jail for 8-1/2 and 7 years for various financial crimes, was politically motivated. Their intervention was just the latest in a series of criticism of the authorities in Azerbaijan by Western rights groups.

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(News report from Issue No. 244, published on Aug. 21 2015)

Georgia accuses Russia of helicopter flight

AUG. 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s government accused Russia of flying a military helicopter into its air space around the border of the breakaway region of South Ossetia. Earlier this year South Ossetian forces apparently grabbed a slither of Georgian territory. Russia is also staging large scale military exercises in South Ossetia.

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(News report from Issue No. 244, published on Aug. 21 2015)

Kyrgyzstan joins EEU

AUG. 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan formally joined the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union when it dropped customs barriers with its neighbour Kazakhstan, which is also a member. Both Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev and Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev attended a ceremony to mark the occasion. Belarus and Armenia are also members of the group which some critics have said is an underhand way for Russia to increase its political influence.

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(News report from Issue No. 243, published on Aug. 14 2015)

Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan plan Caspian naval drills

AUG. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia will host two naval exercises this year with the Azerbaijani and Kazakh navies, media reported quoting senior Russian officials. The drills will take place in the Caspian Sea. The first will be a bilateral exercise involving Azerbaijan and Russia. The second will be trilateral and also include Kazakhstan.

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(News report from Issue No. 243, published on Aug. 14 2015)

Kyrgyzstan joins EEU

AUG. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev signed a decree on allowing Kyrgyzstan into the Russia- led Eurasian Economic Union. This was the final piece of paperwork that Kyrgyzstan needed to enter the trade bloc. Other members of the Eurasian Economic Union include Belarus and Armenia, which also joined this year.

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(News report from Issue No. 242, published on Aug. 7 2015)

Statoil quits Azerbaijani fields

JULY 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Statoil, the oil and gas company part owned by the Norwegian government, has decided to sell its 20% stake in the Trans- Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project that will pump gas from Azerbaijani fields in the Caspian to consumers in Europe.

Rovnag Abdullayev, the head of Azerbaijani oil and gas company SOCAR, announced the news on Azerbaijani TV.

“Statoil has decided to leave the TAP project completely, and there is a company which is ready to buy its stake,” ANS TV quoted him as saying.

“Several companies have expressed an interest in buying Statoil’s stake, and it would be better if several companies would buy it.”

Statoil declined to comment.

If confirmed, Statoil’s decision to quit TAP is probably more a reflection on how it is

re-adjusting its portfolio rather than on the project itself. Statoil has already said it wants to reduce its exposure to risk in its portfolio and has sold its stakes in the giant Shah Deniz field in the Caspian Sea as well as in the South Caucasus Pipeline.

Stakes in these projects were snapped up by SOCAR, BP and Malaysia’s Petronas and Statoil’s stake in TAP will attract bids from companies looking for a high-profile project.

TAP is an 870km pipeline project that should link up with the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline near the Turkey-Greece border which will then carry Azerbaijani gas onto central Europe.

The current TAP shareholders are BP (20%), SOCAR (20%), Statoil (20%), Belgium’s Fluxys (19%), Spain’s Enagas (16%) and Swiss company Axpo (5%).

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(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)